rainy season in Sicily

It's the rainy season here in Sicily and this year we're getting our share and more. Today the base commander closed down the base at noon because of the severity of the storms. It was raining so hard and the winds were so strong it was raining sideways.

Our school principal lives thirty minutes away from the base. She said it took her two hours to get to school this morning. As I've said other times, the rain has nowhere to go other than on the road so there are many rivulets (is that the right word?) running down every street. Mostly people try to drive on the highways which are built higher.

In Sicily, in the winter, we don't have just storms, but they bring in sand from the African desert thousands of kilometers away. We had that kind of a storm today and it was as dark at 10:00 as if the day were just dawning. And the air was a sickly yellowish.

Our car has a layer of silt on it that is a beautiful color somewhere between terra cotta and mustard. I wish I could paint with that color. Flowers and bird feathers would be perfect in this shade of gold.

Our electricity as been going off and on all afternoon, sometimes for a few minutes other times for a few seconds. Kind of like one of those nights when you doze more than sleep......asleep (dark) .......awake.....asleep....... We have lanterns and candles and have good batteries for our computers. We're fine and dandy.